SUNRISE, Fla. – The Devils took that Sunshine State stuff too seriously. They looked like the Sunshine Boys, shut out back-to-back for the first time since 1983.

They might as well have traded their horns for mouse ears and gone to Disney World for all the scoring they did on this trip. These Florida Follies burst Lou Lamoriello’s bubble.

“We certainly looked like we ran right to the end of the tank,” Lamoriello said after last night’s 4-0 loss to the Panthers here. “There’s not much you can do about it when you play the number of games we’ve played.

“But with the month these fellows have had in January, you can’t ask any more than they’ve done.”

Done was right, like dinner. Now they have four days off, only to face Ottawa and Carolina next week.

The Devils fell 1-0 in overtime at Tampa Bay on Thursday, and last night completed their scoreless Florida visit, shut out back-to-back for the only time other than Dec. 20 and 22, 1983, their second season in New Jersey.

They’re 1-2-1 in four after a nine-game winning streak, resembling last month’s version of the team without Patrik Elias. There was good reason: Elias hit the wall in his comeback from hepatitis.

“Good, bad, good, bad. It’s going to take a long time,” Elias said.

Elias said he might have not believed his own pronouncements about how long his conditioning would take to regain.

“Maybe not, because I was surprised with the way it was going,” Elias said.

Martin Brodeur, freshly signed to a six-year contract extension, held the Panthers at bay for the first 29 minutes before yielding a power-play goal to Martin Gelinas.

Gelinas was camped in front of Brodeur, and Brodeur shoved Gelinas out of his line of sight as Jay Bouwmeester fired from the blue line. Brodeur stopped that shot, but Gelinas tucked the rebound around Brodeur for his 10th at 9:26 of the second.

The Panthers made it 2-0 at 12:23 of the second when Chris Gratton converted Rostislav Olesz’s 2-on-1 lateral around Brian Rafalski. Gratton’s shot beat Brodeur’s kicking leg inside the right post.

Olli Jokinen ended doubt at 6:19 of the third, beating Brodeur from the right circle, and Jozef Stumpel completed the embarrassment by scorching Brodeur from the left circle with 4:53 left.

“We left Marty out to dry again,” Scott Gomez said. “Our whole line didn’t do anything the last two games.”

No one else did, offensively, either.

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Elias said he’ll go to Italy to play for the Czech Olympic Team if an injury occurs and he becomes a regular, rather than a taxi-squad member. “If the opportunity is there, I’ll go. If not, I’ll be happy to take my rest,” said Elias, last night his 13th game back from year-ago hepatitis. “They called me just in case. I said, if somebody gets hurt. As an extra guy, I’d rather take my rest.” . . . The Devils play host to Ottawa on Wednesday, then retire Scott Stevens’ No. 4 prior to facing Carolina on Friday. The Stevens ceremony appears likely to be set at some 30 minutes, rather than the near hour-and-a-quarter accorded Mark Messier by the Rangers . . . The Devils sat out Erik Rasmussen and replaced him with rookie Jason Ryznar.